Happy Birthday, Kate!!!

Our sweet little girl turned 1 on Thursday. Where has the year gone? She is such an incredible blessing to our family and has won our hearts over a 1000 times. She adores her big brother and sisters just as much as they adore her. Kate has such a fun temperment and has a pretty go with the flow attitude.
What is Kate up to:

• She is getting more daring with her walking, taking up to 7-8 steps at a time before falling.



• Kate loves to dance and makes sure we all are watching her.



• She loves to read books. Right now she loves the touch & feel books and a Little People Harvest time book...yes she's very smart and knows what season it is out on the farm. :)



• Kate has a special purple blanket that is always close by and a great form of comfort.



• She has no teeth but eats whatever we are having without any problems. Thankfully she is not a picky eater and will shovel in most foods very fast. The only thing she is not a fan of yet is whole milk. We are working on it as mommy would like complete freedom soon. :)



• Can say mama, dada (her first word), hi while pretending to talk on the phone, CaCa for Erica and yumm and nigh-nigh.



• Kate loves to climb and stand on things - especially going up the stairs, wear necklaces, carry purses (this is a new favorite) and rock in our little red rocking chair...usually while standing up. :)



• She is still not sleeping through the night like I'd like, but who really needs a full night of sleep anyway? :)



• And for those that want to know, Kate weighed 19 lb 4 oz and was 28" at her check-up.

I can go on and on about how special Kate is, but I will let you enjoy the pictures of her instead. :)

VanMersbergen Annual Campout

We had another great VM camp out over Labor Day weekend. It is so much fun to get together as a whole family. There is always tons of good food and of course many laughs, but most importantly are the memories we are all making. We're already on the countdown to next year's camp out and memories that will be made. Here are a few pictures of the fun.

This year was a Christmas theme so everyone brought items to put in stockings for the kids. They of course loved it!

Our geo-caching crew showing off their loot.

The kids also got to make a leather craft.
Saturday was a bit rainy as evident by Bethany's matted down hair style. :)

Obviously the boys didn't mind the rain...the game had to go on. A lot of baseball was played over the course of the weekend.

Saturday morning was the annual Kids Fun Run & for the adults the 2 mile fun run.

Go Kate Go!!!! Here's the line-up of all the kids minus 2. I think Kate is jumping the gun a bit. :)

The Noteboom's outdoor sink for teeth brushing.

The boys spent a lot of time flying these little airplanes. It will be a sad day when Grandpa runs out of them.

Glow sticks are always a night time hit.

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Ok, so it really isn't the most wonderful time of the year. I definitely miss the kids when they are at school, but it was time to get back into a routine. I am very excited to see what God has in store for each of them this year. The two days that Erica goes to school is when I will notice them all gone the most. It will just be me, Kate and Aubrey, a sweet little girl that I watch. Those two keep me very busy between feeding them, playing, diaper changes & of course the jealousy issues that we are battling with both of them. :)

Kate absolutely loves climbing the stairs and exploring up there. Not such a safe thing though since we have not baby-proofed that area of the house yet.
Erica and her three wonderful teachers. She is so, so, so excited to go to school. Bethany & her best buddy, Daddy. Jaren, to cool to have his picture taken but decided it wasn't worth the battle with mom. 1st day of 1st grade! 3rd grade already! 1st day of preschool with her new backpack from town grandpa & grandma.

Enjoying the weather

Enjoying the end of summer and the beautiful weather that God has blessed us with.

Kate waiting patiently to go outside.

Loving the new swing-set from Farm Grandpa & Grandma.

Content swinging for now. She would much prefer to be climbing like the big kids.

The kids being wild going down the slide. Thankfully no one was seriously injured even after the 100th time and I would not allow them to add Kate to the top of the pile. :)

Family Fun Day

What a fun day we had on Saturday. Kurtis' plans got changed due to his tractor breaking down, so we went and had a lot of fun instead...miniature golf, the zoo, out for supper to Famous Dave's and then ice cream to end the day. Great memories!

Jaren starting us off on hole #1

Check out Erica's putting stance! :)

Having so much fun!

Sitting pretty by the flowers. Kate enjoyed crawling on the greens and trying to get the balls.

Bethany looking beautiful by the flowers.

Jaren got a hole in 1 on #14! To say he was excited might be an understatement. And not to leave Kurtis out, he got a hole in one on #2, but I forgot to take his picture. :)

Enjoying a lunch of hot dogs and pop in the clubhouse.

Then it was time to hit the zoo. These three braved to wobbly bridge.

Watching the little birds.

Kate loved the fish. She would wave and say hi.

Hatching

Taking a break on the caterpillar.

Erica, Bethany & Jaren getting cooled off by the elephants spray.

Our last stop at the zoo was the train.

Proof that I did go along on this fun day. :) Kate loved the train and was quite the wild child the whole ride.